MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Joe Smith scored 26 points and James
Robinson keyed a fourth-quarter surge as the Minnesota
Timberwolves extended the road woes of the Vancouver Grizzlies
with an 89-75 victory.

But Robinson and Smith answered with layups, fueling an 11-4
surge. Robinson scored eight of his 15 points in the run,
capping it with a 3-pointer with 5:01 left that put the
Timberwolves ahead, 75-68. The Grizzlies got no closer than
five points therafter.

Smith also had 12 rebounds and Sam Mitchell scored 19 points as
the Timberwolves snapped a three-game losing streak and won for
only the second time in their last eight games.

"It was a must-win. We felt we had played hard but not smart
the last two games," Smith said. "During crunch time, we
couldn't put it together. Tonight was sloppy at first, but we
did it. It was physical and we had our ups and downs, but we
were able to put it together and do what we had to do."

Minnesota played without leading scorer Kevin Garnett, who
missed his third straight game due to flu-like symptoms.

"We had some guys that made some plays down the stretch,"
Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "Joe was big, and I thought
our bench came in and played extremely well. ... We really don't
have a starting lineup now. What we do is play guys that give
us energy and are playing well, and tonight was a prime
example."

Shareef Abdur-Rahim poured in 24 points and Tony Massenburg had
18 and a season-high 14 rebounds for Vancouver, which suffered
its fourth straight loss and has dropped 16 in a row away from
home. The Grizzlies are 1-19 on the road.

Despite having the second-worst record in the NBA, the Grizzlies
were ahead by five points after one quarter and took their
biggest lead at 40-32 with 1:51 left in the first half after
rookie Mike Bibby made 1-of-2 free throws.

However, the Wolves scored the final five points of the period
to close to 40-39 at intermission.

Smith, who was 10-of-23 from the floor, sank a pair of free
throws with 5:43 left in the third quarter to give the Wolves
their first lead since the opening quarter at 50-49. Smith
finished with 11 points in the period as the Wolves came away
with a 64-60 edge.

"We missed defensive schemes in the second half," Vancouver
coach Brian Hill said. "We had too many mental errors in the
second half. Minnesota played a little harder in the second
half, but the main thing was the defensive breakdowns."

Minnesota shot 43 percent (31-of-72) while the Grizzlies
connected at 41 percent (31-of-76). The Wolves held a 43-38
rebounding edge.

Abdur-Rahim made 10-of-19 shots but Bibby was non-existent from
the outside, going 2-of-12 from the floor.

"I think we got away from doing the things that helped us in the
first half," Abdur-Rahim said. "The defense wasn't playing and
we didn't have execution on offense."